New science lesson is game changer

Seismologist Dr. Debi Kilb and computer programmer Daniel Rohrlick with the educational science video game they developed for children that teaches them about setting up sensors to measure aftershocks.
— Hayne Palmour IV

Seismologist Dr. Debi Kilb and computer programmer Daniel Rohrlick with the educational science video game they developed for children that teaches them about setting up sensors to measure aftershocks.
— Hayne Palmour IV

In a lab at Scripps Institution of Oceanography last week, a crew of multi-eyed monster scientists flew around “Seismic City,” helping install sensors to record aftershocks of a big quake.

The cartoon monsters were avatars for real-life Scripps seismologist Debi Kilb and her team of computer programmers and graduate students, who aim to introduce kids to the field of seismology through fun and video games.

“How do we put curiosity back into science?” Kilb, a nationally recognized earthquake expert, asked in a community lecture in December. “I think one way is through video games. Ninety-four percent of 7- to 17-year-olds play video games. If they’re that invested in that technology, we need to leverage that.”

Kilb is not alone. The National Science Foundation funds educational gaming applications, the White House Office of Science and Technology has tasked a policy analyst with exploring academic gaming, and commercial game manufacturers are tackling markets for academic and corporate training.

“There’s a significant amount going on globally, as it relates to using gaming systems or methodologies to improve student achievement,” said Shawn Gross, director of technology and innovation for the University of San Diego’s Mobile Technology Learning Center.

The catch is creating games exciting enough to capture students’ attention, and informative enough to convey academic content.

“If you can get a student to that level, where they’re so sucked in and engaged, and their entertainment senses are so tapped, that they don’t even realize that their education senses are involved, that’s the Holy Grail,” Gross said.

Kilb’s team took up that quest at Scripps as part of a summer internship program.

With funding including a $234,000, two-year grant from the National Science Foundation, her team of interns, a cartoonist and programmer designed the Quake Catcher Network game, which dispatches seismological assistants to monitor a virtual quake.

Using the hands-free Xbox Kinect device, players complete a series of mini-games in order to install seismic sensors and earn points, while learning about earth science and quake safety.

They’re guided by a squad of neon-colored cartoon scientists, sporting three to six eyes, and hands growing from their heads, which Kilb called “zany” although she admitted that “some people think the characters are creepy.”

An earlier Scripps game, Deep-sea Extreme Environment Pilot, or DEEP, simulates marine exploration on the Xbox device, with players earning points for the number of research samples they collect, and the exotic undersea creatures they photograph.

The game designers are expanding and fine-tuning the graphics, text and game features in response to testing by local kids. They hope to add footage from director James Cameron’s expedition to the Mariana Trench to the DEEP game and enlist teen actors from a local high school for voice-overs.

Guiding a new player through the DEEP game, computer programmer Daniel Rohrlick offered a tour of the virtual environment.

“See that shimmer?” he asked “That’s what happens when the cold water hits hot water, and it was really, really hard to program in. So enjoy!”

As the player neared a scorching thermal vent to take rock samples, Rohrlick warned of the hazards.